Reducing ruminant livestock emissions: Danone bolsters methane-reducing scalable farming solutions

24 Nov 2023 --- The Global Methane Hub (GMH) and Danone have joined forces to reduce methane emissions created by enteric fermentation, the digestive process of ruminant livestock. This comes amid meat and dairy giants’ emissions rising continuously despite pledges and nearly 20 firms witnessing disclosed emissions fall this year.

By leveraging an Enteric Fermentation R&D Accelerator, the move aims to invest in breakthrough research and innovation to mitigate methane via feed additives, plant and animal genetics, methane vaccines and affordable measurement technologies for dairy farmers.

The association will reportedly bring academic experts and technology suppliers together to evaluate solutions supporting dossier building for regulatory approvals while driving innovations for various farm systems in multiple countries.

Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO at Danone, flags that reducing methane is a major stake for the climate, the sustainability of the world’s food systems and the future of many farming communities.

“As a long-time sustainability pioneer, we know that doing it at scale and in an impactful way cannot be done by anyone in isolation. Our partnership with the Global Methane Hub is a key milestone in creating, testing and deploying impactful and practical solutions in the field of methane reduction. 

“This will allow the world to keep enjoying the benefits of yogurt and help secure a sustainable future for many rural communities.”

The companies will also work on a methane accounting and feed optimization decision support tool for dairy cattle.The accelerator has already raised US$200 million in funding and claims to be the largest ever globally coordinated research effort on enteric methane coordinated by GMH and supported by philanthropic organizations and governments.  

Feed optimization support tool
Besides the funding for the Accelerator, Danone will also develop a methane accounting and feed optimization decision support tool for dairy cattle with GMH.

“This will involve Danone smallholders’ dairy farms in North Africa, starting with a first pilot in Morocco with 1,000 farmers,” notes the company.

“This tool will help farm advisors formulate dairy diets based on regionally available feed and well-defined feed quality.”

The project’s primary goal is to demonstrate the benefits of improved livestock nutrition by enhancing livestock productivity, increasing farmers’ income and reducing methane emissions.

Targeting methane emissions is integral to a more sustainable food system, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighting that a reduction in methane emissions will have immediate benefits for the climate, way more than that of carbon dioxide reduction alone. It also flags lowered meat consumption as one of the key contributors to slowing down carbon emissions and reducing temperatures.

The need to curb emissions
Dairy production from cattle accounts for an estimated 8% of total human-caused methane emissions worldwide, which are a part of agriculture and livestock activities, accounting for approximately 40% of global methane emissions, says the IPCC.

Further, the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) analysis suggests that the meat and dairy sectors are enormous contributors to GHG emissions, which are soaring year-on-year. The levels increased by 3.28% from the top 20 producers that reported their emissions, of which 40% still do not include Scope 3 (indirect) emissions.

Methane mitigation is critical for the future of the climate and many farming communities.Moreover, 70% of agriculture-driven methane emissions come from enteric fermentation, making it the largest single source of methane emissions of any sector, states Marcelo Mena, CEO of the Global Methane Hub.

“Agriculture is a sector where methane reduction efforts can have an extraordinary impact. Through scaled-up investment from philanthropy, governments, and the private sector, we can accelerate progress in developing practical, innovative solutions and create the scale and coordination needed for these solutions to be impactful.”

He underscores that such steps can “ensure greater economic and food security for local communities and transform the future of sustainable farming.”

Last month, McDonald’s and FrieslandCampina also collaborated to reduce the GHG emissions in dairy production in the Netherlands and Belgium by 14% by 2025.

FrieslandCampina and Mondelēz International also announced a new alliance in June aimed at cutting back the GHG emissions of milk production by 14% in the next four years.

By Insha Naureen